Unresponsive Azure VM

Another day I was at one of my costumers, and a system
engineer come to me asking me if I could help him troubleshoot an issue with an
unresponsive Azure VM. I love this moments, specially when I can always learn
new ways that users are using Azure.

OK, lets move to the issue. Here is the list of issues that
he reports to me:

No RDP into VM

VM not “pingable” from the network (either on
prem or on Azure)

Remote PowerShell not available

Usually when this kind of issues happen, I always recommend to
redeploy (see picture below).

But what does the redeploy on an Azure VM does to fix the
issue. Sometimes the VM running on the host/node on Azure, get “stuck” on a
state that makes the VM seems inaccessible from the network, although from the
monitoring the VM is still running. By redeploy the Azure VM, you are redeploying
the VM on another host/node in the same Azure datacenter.

What this mean? Means that Azure will shutdown automatically
your VM, move it to another host/node available with the capacity to run and
then power it back. All of this process will retain the configuration, the resources
associated and the disks.

How to redeploy an Azure VM

You have to option, either through the Azure Portal or through
PowerShell

Azure Portal

On Azure Portal, navigate to the VM. Down on the left under Support + troubleshooting area, you will find the Redeploy.

When you select Redeploy, it will appear a page explaining what will happen. Then click Redeploy

After that you will see the status the VM changing to Updating. When the status change to Running the redeploy is finish and now you can access the VM.

PowerShell

If you want to use the Azure Cloud Shell or the PowerShell
on your machine the command is the same.

With more than 18 years experience in Datacenter Architectures, Marcos Nogueira is currently working as a Principal Cloud Solution Architect. He is an expert in Private and Hybrid Cloud, with a focus on Microsoft Azure, Virtualization and System Center. He has worked in several industries, including Aerospace, Transportation, Energy, Manufacturing, Financial Services, Government, Health Care, Telecoms, IT Services, and Gas & Oil in different countries and continents.
Marcos was a Canadian MVP in System Center Cloud & Datacenter Managenment and he has +14 years as Microsoft Certified, with more than 100+ certifications (MCT, MCSE, and MCITP, among others). Marcos is also certified in VMware, CompTIA and ITIL v3. He assisted Microsoft in the development of workshops and special events on Private & Hybrid Cloud, Azure, System Center, Windows Server, Hyper-V and as a speaker at several Microsoft TechEd/Ignite and communities events around the world.

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With more than 18 years experience in Datacenter Architectures, Marcos Nogueira is currently working as a Principal Cloud Solution Architect. He is an expert in Private and Hybrid Cloud, with a focus on Microsoft Azure, Virtualization and System Center. He has worked in several industries, including Aerospace, Transportation, Energy, Manufacturing, Financial Services, Government, Health Care, Telecoms, IT Services, and Gas & Oil in different countries and continents.
Marcos was a Canadian MVP in System Center Cloud & Datacenter Managenment and he has +14 years as Microsoft Certified, with more than 100+ certifications (MCT, MCSE, and MCITP, among others). Marcos is also certified in VMware, CompTIA and ITIL v3. He assisted Microsoft in the development of workshops and special events on Private & Hybrid Cloud, Azure, System Center, Windows Server, Hyper-V and as a speaker at several Microsoft TechEd/Ignite and communities events around the world.